Skakki

A Skakki is a traditional garter stitch Icelandic shawl. My design has a twist to it with the decorative bands of openwork that cover the entire wingspan. Each band is different: some of the motifs come from different areas in Iceland or can be found in other traditional Icelandic shawls. The Skakki is almost like a sampler! It is knitted from the top down in the manner that was common for such shawls in the Westfjords of Iceland.

A Skakki is a traditional everyday Icelandic shawl. It is a simple garter stitch triangular shawl, that was worn crossed over the front and bound at the back, with long wrist warmers that acted as sleeves. The skakkar were usually knitted in the natural colors of the sheep and often decorated with a few stripes and/or bands of openwork, gataprjón (hole knitting), at the bottom.

My design retains all the elements of the traditional skakki except for the bands of openwork that are not confined to the bottom of the shawl but cover the entire wingspan. Each band of openwork is different: some of the motifs come from different areas in Iceland or can be found in other traditional Icelandic shawls. The Skakki shawl is knitted from the top down in the manner that was common for such shawls in the Westfjords of Iceland.

The shawl was originally designed last summer as a prompt for the fundraising campaign of Uppspuni, Iceland first minimill. I used a very special Icelandic wool coming from the Feldfé, a grey Icelandic sheep that has been raised to produce more tog (the long coarse outer coat) than thel (the short soft and fine inner coat). Only four or five farmers have Feldfé today and the yarn is as such a rarity. Not as rare, but still a very special and unique yarn, Gilitrutt Tvíband, my beautiful plied lace made of soft Icelandic lambswool, is a good alternative: I select the wool myself from Icelandic farmers and the natural grey wool is the most difficult natural color to gather.